Sorry, my bad. I was thinking buy and hold actually meant buy and hold. Yes, I was looking at 5 years. I'll bet if I looked 10 years it would have done well also. I guess it depends on your philosophy with stocks. I don't have a huge stock business, so I tend to buy stocks for clients that I think will do well past the 12 or 24 month time frame. Probably a part of my Jones background.

The Jones research team is a value team. Says so in the IP that gets mailed every month. "The Edward Jones Research department typically recommends industry leading companies that appear reasonably valued." There's one Buy recommended stock with a P/E above 25. The majority of them are stocks with P/Es in the teens. I know they aren't going to follow everything. I know they are going to get some things wrong. I know the same thing happens at ALL of the other firms.

I don't know what kind of money Jones makes on the underwriting. If they do, I hope it's a bunch. That takes some of the pressure of the FAs. I think the one profit center mantra is flawed, but it plays well on TV.

Canada and the UK are growing enterprises. Just like any startup company it is going to go through years of not being profitable. The more veteran FAs we have in those countries the more profitable we are going to become. I'd be willing to bet the GPs are pleased with most of what is going on in Canada and the UK and they're willing to take the returns they are getting right now and wait for bigger and better ones in the future.

I vaguely remember Jones following Williams. They don't have an opinion on it now. It's a shame too. That stock has gone nuts since 2003. Maybe we should have kept that buy opinion.

Sorry spears - when I tried to go through LPL.com>Investor Education>Stocks and clicked the Stocks link, I got an error message. I tried several times. Just tried it again. Looks like they are trying to send me to Thompson. Maybe their site is down. Who knows. I just thought it was funny that you guys bash the Jones technology and then your site doesn't work right.

Looks like you were right lpl.com seems to be down. Branchnet is working though and thats what matters most. I will say this for LPL though, when the system went down earlier this year for a number of days heads did roll. It was done without fanfare and seemed professional, but it was dealt with. When the great satellite blackout occured I dont recall any fallout for Malone who failed to have a practical contingency plan.

"Canada and the UK are growing enterprises. Just like any startup company it is going to go through years of not being profitable. The more veteran FAs we have in those countries the more profitable we are going to become. I'd be willing to bet the GPs are pleased with most of what is going on in Canada and the UK and they're willing to take the returns they are getting right now and wait for bigger and better ones in the future."

Canada has been operational since 1994. in 2003 there were nearly 600 reps, now they are over 500. In Quebec there is nearly 1/4 of the population of Canada and there are only 10 reps to service them....

UK has been in operation since 1997. There are 200 or so reps for 61 million people.

How long can your GPs afford to call these "startups" from what I've heard the returns have been negative for a long time.

My bad Spiffy...site is not functioning. I did see however this following prompt when I clicked on stocks.."Only enter if your age is 18 or above and or have the permission of your parents"...so I believe the Jones's will never or should never be allowed in...sorry

"Canada and the UK are growing enterprises. Just like any startup company it is going to go through years of not being profitable. The more veteran FAs we have in those countries the more profitable we are going to become. I'd be willing to bet the GPs are pleased with most of what is going on in Canada and the UK and they're willing to take the returns they are getting right now and wait for bigger and better ones in the future."

Canada has been operational since 1994. in 2003 there were nearly 600 reps, now they are over 500. In Quebec there is nearly 1/4 of the population of Canada and there are only 10 reps to service them....

UK has been in operation since 1997. There are 200 or so reps for 61 million people.

How long can your GPs afford to call these "startups" from what I've heard the returns have been negative for a long time.

Seriously, though, Spiff, I think he might have you on that one. 10 years is an awful long time to hang on to the 'startup' moniker.

More importantly, though, who the hell cares? How does it matter to ANY of us if the big green machine is profitable in the UK or Canada, or what they call it?

I don't know about y'all, but I come to this board for two reasons....1.) entertainment2.) potentially money making ideas.

Debating the merits of Jones and whether or not their international operations are profitable don't seem to fit under either of those criteria. The whole 'Jones sucks' refrain is so tired it doesn't even qualify as entertainment any more.

"Canada and the UK are growing enterprises. Just like any startup company it is going to go through years of not being profitable. The more veteran FAs we have in those countries the more profitable we are going to become. I'd be willing to bet the GPs are pleased with most of what is going on in Canada and the UK and they're willing to take the returns they are getting right now and wait for bigger and better ones in the future."

Canada has been operational since 1994. in 2003 there were nearly 600 reps, now they are over 500. In Quebec there is nearly 1/4 of the population of Canada and there are only 10 reps to service them.... - Yep, you're right. There have been FAs in Canada since 1994. 6 of them. Who knows if they're still there. We crossed the 100 mark in 97, 200 in 99, 400 in 2000, and today we're over 600. We have a home office building in Toronto that employs hundreds of people. Sounds kind of like EDJ in 1970. Jones IRs back then were complaining when there were three Jones guys in one state. Look where we are now.

UK has been in operation since 1997. There are 200 or so reps for 61 million people. - Again, you are correct. 8 of them. 100 in 2002 (we hit that mark a couple of times, but finally stayed there in 2002), and today we're at 260. They actually stopped hiring FAs for the UK for a while to work on getting the overall sales force there healthy. That's been the toughest nut to crack for Jones. It's not like MCDs, who open up shops in China and people start marching through the doors. Just like in Canada, there is a home office in London employs hundreds of people.

How long can your GPs afford to call these "startups" from what I've heard the returns have been negative for a long time. - The GPs can "afford" for them to run indefinitely in the red. The firm overall is still profitable. The Canada and UK divisions will hit their stride and will become profitable. I don't have any idea of the timeline or goals the firm has for them, but there's not a single GP who is in the poorhouse because of what is going on in the UK and Canada.

sapceman spiff when you have a moment could yourespond to this one?

Thanks

I'll bet there's not a GP at the firm who doesn't wish that things in Canada and the UK were much more profitable. Heck, as a lowly LP, I wish they were. It just means my profits are going to look better when they do get there. How long do you suspect it took for Merrill or Morgan to have profitable divisions in other countries? A year or two? My guess is probably not. My guess would be many years. But, the overall company was stronger for having that presence internationally whether they were immediately profitable or not. I will venture a guess to say that Jones will be stronger 30 years from now because of the positive impact on the bottom line of Canada and the UK.

BTW - The "startup" moniker was mine, not something I heard from the home office.

If I have one problem with Jones, and I don't really think about them that often, it is illustrated every time I come on these forums (which is about once every couple of months). There seems to be a strange arrogance, even in the face of failure, that permeates the IR's. A refusal to back down and admit there are other ways, other products than preferred funds, and other companies that do "the right thing". I was a guy that started and Jones and built from scratch. Won the pacesetters award...the whole bit. Then I realized I was not a business owner, did not rule my own destiny, and was working within a system I didn't believe in. I still have friends that work at Jones, they are happy and I am happy for them. It just simply didn't fit me or my clients.

This is my first posting, but I couldn't help thinking about how bad Jones is really doing. I had a conversation with our VP of recruiting yesterday, and Jones has lost 20 $300k+ (on AVG) producers to our firm this year as of Nov 07. This is one firm, out of HOW MANY? I appreciate all my old Jones buddies that I went to kindergarten with, but wake up man! College is more fun! I think the reason Jones' people are so arrogant is the ignorance that is pounded in the brain starting with the recruiting process. I mostly just feel sorry for Eddie Jones. I've been gone almost two years, and I have to say, I will out produce 95% of my old region this year. How do I know---people still call me and tell me about the "dot race"! What a great business!

This is my first posting, but I couldn't help thinking about how bad Jones is really doing. I had a conversation with our VP of recruiting yesterday, and Jones has lost 20 $300k+ (on AVG) producers to our firm this year as of Nov 07. This is one firm, out of HOW MANY? I appreciate all my old Jones buddies that I went to kindergarten with, but wake up man! College is more fun! I think the reason Jones' people are so arrogant is the ignorance that is pounded in the brain starting with the recruiting process. I mostly just feel sorry for Eddie Jones. I've been gone almost two years, and I have to say, I will out produce 95% of my old region this year. How do I know---people still call me and tell me about the "dot race"! What a great business!

This is my first posting, but I couldn't help thinking about how bad Jones is really doing. I had a conversation with our VP of recruiting yesterday, and Jones has lost 20 $300k+ (on AVG) producers to our firm this year as of Nov 07. This is one firm, out of HOW MANY? I appreciate all my old Jones buddies that I went to kindergarten with, but wake up man! College is more fun! I think the reason Jones' people are so arrogant is the ignorance that is pounded in the brain starting with the recruiting process. I mostly just feel sorry for Eddie Jones. I've been gone almost two years, and I have to say, I will out produce 95% of my old region this year. How do I know---people still call me and tell me about the "dot race"! What a great business!